CoRE Horsemanship

18/11/2025

A horses first experience of a saddle doesn’t need to be stressful or explosive. It can, and should, be a positive experience.

Below is Ru’s first session wearing the saddle girthed up and moving at a walk and trot in preparation for him going away to be started under saddle, and to enable me to complete a full saddle fit to ensure he had a saddle that fitted well for the next stage of training.

There were 2-3 sessions leading up to this that helped to prepare him for this moment. We started with ensuring he was confident with the rope being thrown over his back on both sides, then progressed to a saddle pad being thrown on and off on both sides, then repeating with the saddle on both sides, observing his body language throughout and working at his pace.

Once he was confident with all of these, we then did some girth simulations with a rope around the girth area, ensuring he felt confident with pressure being applied to tighten it and then loosen it at a standstill and when moving. And then we pieced all of these bits together and the result was a horse who felt safe and confident enough to experiment with his movement whilst staying emotionally regulated!

10/11/2025

Lovely Irish Draught Halley, my biggest client who must be over 17hh and built like a tank! Isn’t she beautiful?!

We’ve spent the summer bringing her back into work and have recently started getting her back under saddle too. She has been an angel, but is surprisingly athletic and often shows off her acrobatic skills on the ground during our warm ups!

08/11/2025

Last Sunday I spent 4 hours swearing, sorry, I mean fencing, so that I could get the herd moved into the winter field. It was so worth it to see them running, exploring, playing and just doing what horses should be doing! Not that they didn’t do this before, but it’s always different with the added excitement of a new field and fresh grass. 🐎🐎

09/10/2025

Some important info on Acorn toxicity. Cases are very high in our area at the moment so bets not to take the risk!

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭: 𝐀𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐚𝐤 𝐓𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬

As the autumn leaves are falling, we want to remind horse owners to keep an eye out for acorns and oak leaves in their pastures. While they’re a familiar sign of autumn, acorns can pose a serious health risk to horses.
Acorn (oak) toxicity in horses causes a form of toxic colitis - more specifically, it’s often referred to as tannic acid–induced colitis or oak-induced enterocolitis.
Here’s what happens:
Tannins (and related phenolic compounds like gallotannins) found in acorns, oak leaves, and bark are caustic to the gastrointestinal mucosa.
When ingested in significant amounts, these compounds cause inflammation, ulceration, and necrosis of the intestinal lining, particularly in the large intestine (colon).
The damage leads to protein loss, fluid imbalance, and endotoxin absorption, resulting in severe diarrhoea, colic, dehydration, and sometimes secondary kidney injury due to tannin metabolites.
The condition is best described as acute necrotizing or haemorrhagic colitis secondary to tannin toxicity from acorn ingestion.

Early signs may include colic-like symptoms (abdominal pain), diarrhoea or constipation, loss of appetite, depression or lethargy, dark urine or dehydration.
If you have any concerns about your horse, do contact your vet as a matter of urgency.

08/10/2025

I’m still processing after the most wonderful weekend of learning with the LM Saddles Ltd Horse-friendly Saddles, Holistic & Remedial Saddle-fitting team 💜

The lovely Laura Waterhouse Therapies & Training taught us a variety of bodywork techniques, including Debono, to relieve tension, bring awareness into the body and improve posture. It was fascinating how the tiniest movements could create such huge changes within the horses body. We also got to experiment with a couple of sessions on ourselves, and three days later I’m baffled that I am feeling so mobile and unrestricted throughout my body, which is quite unheard of 😆. I’m really looking forward to experimenting with my herd so that I can bring these skills to clients, and adding some of the exercises into my own morning routine.

As always when we get together, there were lots of laughs, some silliness, a huge amount of love and unwavering support. I always come away from our team time feeling inspired and like my nervous system has had a full reset. So grateful to be part of the LM family.

02/10/2025

Fantastic to see vets leading by example and working with a more horse centred approach. Good job Lucy Chester Horsemanship!

26/08/2025

I don’t know where July and August have gone…I’ve been busy beavering away updating the website, Saddle Fitting and Livery pages are now live! I will have space for another livery soon and always have time for new saddle fitting clients so get in touch or head to the website for more info! 🎠
www.corehorsemanship.co.uk
LM Saddles Ltd Horse-friendly Saddles, Holistic & Remedial Saddle-fitting

25/08/2025

Thank you The Heart of Horsemanship for this fab post! Always so much more that could be explained about facial expressions and recognising tension, it’s kind of a never ending discussion, but this is such a good start for recognising some of the basics.

22/08/2025

🐴 Horse Hotspot - CoRE Horsemanship 🐴

Are you looking to create a deep connection with your horse while enhancing your skills and understanding of their behaviour?
Meet Rachael of CoRE Horsemanship, a seasoned Horsemanship Coach and Trainer.

Rachael's passion lies in the natural development and foundation training of horses, focusing on all ages and stages. Having studied Applied Equine Behaviour and Equine Psychology programs, she specialises in developing young horses and empowering others with the skills and confidence to achieve their goals with their horses. 🐎

Covering West Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire, Rachael offers tailored sessions designed to problem-solve, educate, or aid rehabilitation from injury. From young horse handling and pre-saddle training, and even liberty and ridden horsemanship lessons, Rachael's holistic approach prioritises the overall well-being of the horse.🌿 CoRE Horsemanship

https://www.horsehotspots.co.uk/listing/core-horsemanship/

16/08/2025

Highly recommend this episode of the curious equestrian podcast featuring Hannah from Sabre Holistics for your next poo picking/mucking out listen! Absolutely excellent conversation around trauma healing.

Podcast Episode · Curious Equestrian · 31/07/2025 · 1h 4m

31/07/2025

Happy faces during a saddle fit!

We have widened Alfie’s saddle three times in the time that I’ve known him, and he’s now outgrown it so here he and his owner are trying a size 5 LM saddle out for size.

As you can see, everyone was happy in it and I was much happier with the fit and the room it provides to allow his back to continue to develop further. 😀

LM Saddles Ltd Horse-friendly Saddles, Holistic & Remedial Saddle-fitting

24/07/2025

Excellently written!

The horse doesn’t care what method you use. He cares how you make him feel while using it.

The war between training methods is exhausting, and it’s hurting the very animals we claim to love.

The industry is drowning in egos.

Scroll any comment section and you’ll see it: accusations, sarcasm, name-calling, and dogmatic preaching, from every side.

Positive reinforcement trainers slam negative reinforcement as cruel and abusive. Traditional trainers mock positive reinforcement as fluffy tree hugging nonsense.

And meanwhile… the horse is stuck in the middle of a war he never asked to be in.

Let’s get one thing straight:
Every single method we use is man-made.

It might’ve been created based on observations of horse behavior. But at the end of the day, they’re still man-made.

Natural horsemanship, liberty, traditional horsemanship, connection based training, positive reinforcement, science based horsemanship, it’s all human-created.

All of it is an attempt to build a bridge between two species. None of it is flawless. They’re tools, approaches and philosophies.

The problem isn’t the method.
The problem is the human.

It’s the person who cares more about being right than being kind, fair and ethical. The trainer who preaches compassion online, but explodes behind closed doors.

The influencer who publicly shames others to boost their own platform.

And it’s all of us watching silently, afraid to speak up because the backlash is that toxic.

This isn’t a game. This is about living beings with fragile nervous systems and beating hearts. The obsession of with being part of the “right camp” has gone so far that we’ve forgotten the point: to help horses live more peaceful, and empowered lives with us.

You can be ethical and use pressure.
You can be ethical and use food rewards.
Any method can be unethical in the wrong hands.

It’s not “R+ vs R-.” It’s not about followers or applause. It’s about doing better. For the horse. For the next generation of trainers and horseman.

For the future of an industry that will collapse under the weight of its own arrogance if we don’t wake up.

Put the horse first. Always. Everything else is just noise.